Worksop horticulture centre to close?

CUTS made by Notts County Council could lead to the closing down of the County Horticulture and Work Training service in Worksop.

The closure is being considered in a bid to save the council £100,000 per year - but will effect seven jobs, including one post currently filled by a disabled worker.

However, the council service currently has four vacant posts, meaning that only three will be offered a transfer or voluntary redundancy.

As well as the savings, the council say that the closure will allow the service to continue providing the same opportunities but to an additional ten service users, increasing capacity from 60 to 70.

The council say that no service users are based at the Worksop site, but six people at the Sherwood Pines base will be offered the chance to transfer to the sites at Linby, Skegby or Balderton with transport provided at no additional cost to the service users.

Coun Kevin Rostance said: “We weren’t completely happy with the original proposals for the County Horticulture and Work Training service because of concerns about potentially greatly increased travelling times for service users.

“I am pleased that we have been able to come up with a solution which not only retains the Balderton site and makes the required savings, but also increases the number of placements available for service users.

He added: “We will do our utmost to ensure that any employee affected is given the opportunity to be redeployed into available jobs within the County Council or with other employers.”

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